RISK STRATEGY SPANS BENEFITS & P-C    Benefits expected to reach 40% of revenue within five years It's all about risk. All employers are subject to it and once they quantify it, they need to decide what to do with it. Should they pass it along, retain it or insure it? Many agents and brokers take a "risk management" approach to property/casualty and workers compensation exposures, but Sinclair Insurance Group in Wallingford Center, Connecticut, treats employee benefits with the same sophisticated approach, says President David Sinclair. "We are really a risk management company," he explains. "We specialize in loss control. Claims management, financial consulting and human resource management-and like many agencies, we developed these approaches for our property/casualty insurance clients." But now the same approaches drive the agency's employee benefits services, too, he says. Sinclair Insurance was founded in 1971 and today is the largest independent agency in Connecticut with about 60 employees in three hub offices, including Norwalk and Chester, Connecticut. About 15 employees work in group employee benefits and related services. The agency also has four employees in pension and retirement services, including a pension actuary to manage and consult on defined benefit pension plans and three defined contribution plan specialists and administrators. The agency also serves as a third-party administrator of 401(k) plans. Click here for the complete article …

RECESSION REALIGNS HR SERVICES    Agencies fill the gap Do more with less-if you want to keep your job. That's the painful reality for many human resources management executives. Employee benefits agents and brokers hear the same sad tale every time they meet with their clients' HR executives. When the recession hit, human resource directors bore the responsibility for reducing the workforce-laying off employees to reduce costs and out-placing executives their companies could no longer afford. When the bloodletting was done, human resource departments took their own cuts; and departments with HR directors, employee benefit managers and generalists were reduced, often to a single, overworked professional. And if these lone wolves want to keep their job, they have to do it all: hiring, firing, employee benefits management, employee communications and regulatory compliance. Desperate for help, they turn to their agencies that are responding to this need by adding human resources expertise as a value-added service. Some agencies have hired human resource consultants-many of them former employees of their clients-who can take on projects for client companies. Benefit agency networks, such as the St. Louis-based Benefits Growth Network, partners with human resource specialists, such as HR That Works in San Diego, California, that can provide services to clients of their members. Others provide online databases of forms, documents and regulatory education delivered by popular employee benefits portal companies such as Zywave and Benergy. Click here for the complete article …

INNOVATION: LUXURY OR NECESSITY?    Discover the power of the Innovation Equation If you have read any of my past articles, you have seen me make a case for changing the model of today's benefits producer/department/agency. I have talked regularly about how our role with clients needs to change. I've even described in some detail what that role should encompass and how innovation is no longer a luxury but a necessity for our very survival. We all know that change is usually difficult and that the gravity of "how we've always done it" is a strong force indeed. Rarely do we push through the challenges of change until we realize it is more difficult to live in our current reality than it is to do the hard work of moving ahead. As benefits producers, we are challenged to change by a number of new and emerging realities: New client needs-With employee engagement and morale at an all-time low, your clients are looking for help in new ways. Competitive advantage-Those most adept at change will always have an edge. Control-You must have control over what you sell and how you get paid. Commission cuts-Enough said. Disintermediation-Exchanges and direct writers are looking to eliminate you as the middleman. Economic uncertainty-Experts predict that companies that are able to innovate within their industry (whatever the industry) will be the first to enjoy economic recovery. Health care reform-Again, enough said. Desperate competition-No one is in more danger than someone forced to fight for his very existence. Click here for the complete article … A TRAINING OPPORTUNITY FOR NEW BENEFITS PRODUCERS    Two giants in P-C & benefits education fill a training void A property/casualty agency with a growing employee benefits practice eventually confronts the need to hire a new benefits sales person. If hiring an experienced benefits producer is not possible or practical, it might consider hiring someone, probably young, with no benefits sales experience, but with strong sales instincts. An agency taking this approach is immediately presented with a training challenge that is different from what they are used to on the P-C side of the house. When a P-C producer is hired, forward-thinking agencies have senior sales people who can be mentors and a licensed service staff that is supportive of the new producer's needs. In the best of all worlds, they would even have a true sales manager who can work with the new producer. This kind of infrastructure training support probably is not available on the benefits side. So, how does a P-C agency go about developing an inexperienced benefits producer into a productive performer? Two organizations-one operating in the benefits world, the other in property/casualty-have joined forces to create a program that addresses this training challenge. The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans and The National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research introduced their Employee Benefits Producer Training program last year. The centerpiece of the training program is a two-week, on-site training event, which last year attracted 16 benefits producers. This year's training event will be held this month-from September 19 to September 30 in Fort Worth, Texas. Click here for the complete article …  Click here to unsubscribe This message was sent by The Rough Notes Company, Inc., 11690 Technology Drive, Carmel, Indiana, 46032 1-800-428-4384